Sefu Don of the Hark'nvesh
by S-Bumblebee
Summary: Sefu Don is one of the greatest Thanagarian Elites of the Hark'nvesh, the so called unrivalled children of the skies. In a final act to train the greatest aerial acrobat of a generation, he ultimately seals his fate. Short Oneshot, expansion on Thanagarian lore hinted in previous stories (including "Flight of an Exile".


**AN - I haven't been on Fanfiction, nor written anything for...well...many years. To those of you that I have not spoken with for ever such a long time, I hope you are well and I apologise for my absence. For those of you that still continue to read my work, thank you. I am exceptionally glad that enjoyment can still be found amongst the words I have shared.**

 **I can't guarantee that this is the hint of a full return, but I had some time, an unfinished piece and a muse. And so the below was born. I hope you enjoy. As ever, I appreciate any and all feedback. This is a piece mainly derived from the lore I have built previously around Shayera and Thanagar in other works. The Hark'nvesh itself hinted at in "Flight of an Exile".**

 **I hope you enjoy.**

Sefu Don of the Hark'nvesh

The sky, wide and unending, was warm and welcoming to those of its children and their kin. From the great birds of the mountains, the Hark'nvesh, to the Thanagarians in their high spires. To every Thanagarian the sky was their home, more so than perhaps the ground where their existence had first begun. Ichthultu had first given them wings, had first shown them the way to the skies, into the clouds and touching the stars. But his gifts had heavy prices and his people had long since pushed him away from their reality. From then on Thanagarians had advanced in their own technologies, pressed onward until they could be born with wings of their very own and from that moment on, had never looked to the ground in the same way.

Sefu Don was one such Thanagarian. A proud man in his physical and mental prime, born and bred for the skies and all that they could throw his way. He was the elite. His duty was to that of his people and his life was to the sky, his work to the Harkn'vesh, where he led the way to oneness with the wind. There were none like him in passion, his entire existence devoted to the sky with his boots rarely touching the ground. However, the sky could not hold him for an eternity and his wings tired and so he was forced to spend some of his time on the ground that he thought so lowly of. There was a ripple of belief amongst a corner of his people, that after death they would join the wind for the remainder of time. Faith was not held dearly by Thanagarians, not since they had driven Ichthultu from their world and it was often frowned upon greatly, yet it existed in tiny, unseen pockets. He wished in his heart that these secretly held beliefs could really be true.

In the long days when the suns were high and the weather dry and stable, Sefu trained recruits of the Hark'nvesh, teaching them all he had learned about the ways of the skies. Teaching them techniques, formations, spontaneous tactics and acrobatics, teaching them until their wings were sore and they dared not beg to land and rest. He instructed them without mercy, pressed them without restraint, frightened them with reality and showed them no tolerance. They would be Hark'nvesh, they would be Elite and he would sculpt them until they met the highest of his standards. With their world at war there was no acceptance for weakness, no understanding. Weakness was stamped out and squashed without hesitation.

When the days were done he visited the Smiths, watched them cast Nth metal until it shone and shimmered. He spoke with them often, animatedly describing the needs of his creed and the styles they required. They were elite squads of fliers, they needed minimal and lightweight armour to allow for speed and manoeuvrability. Protection was minimal, but dense in the most vulnerable of places. Sefu only deemed vital organs to be viable for protection, arms would be bare, legs would be bare, only the lightest of fabrics were allowed for their flesh and only a simple, but dense metal plate allowed for their chest. For many months Sefu had worked with the Smiths, tailoring Nth Metal to a shape that could sit and not hinder the wing's bones, an armour that could protect a Harkn'vesh's most valuable asset without reducing their unrivalled aerial ability.

Many times they had tried to pair him, promise him to a woman who could bear his children, bring more such as him into their world that so sorely needed populating, but every time he refused. The Hark'nvesh was his life, his duty and his soul. There was no room for other trivial matters of life. Perhaps his sons and daughters would, like him, grow to be true creatures of the sky, training others in their irreplaceable skill. But still he resisted, he knew like the rest that soon Thanagar's skies would burn, and there would be none left for their children. A world without a sky was not a world worthy of his children.

The Elders held Sefu Don in the highest esteem, many of his elite had turned the tide of a battle over the years, and he continued to diligently train more. However, the Elders had a conundrum. There was a particular child who had shown an affinity for flight of a more complex nature, perhaps too could be one of the finest aerial combatants of their generation, but too were they an excellent fit for espionage. The strategy being employed by the Thanagarian Elders in this endless war was changing. Rather than continue with direct and vicious combat, they were considering a more long-term approach. Thanagarian Scientists were a rarity to come across, many of them hidden away in the low spires of the city, too close to the ground for the liking of those such as Sefu. But the Scientists, strangely and often wingless, had deduced and perfected a new weapon. A Hyperspace Bypass.

For the weapon to work however, it required a long-term mission to a planet along what the Scientists had determined to be the Bypass route. There was no way to avoid the planet, re-mapping the Bypass would cost them an additional twenty Sun Cycles. Too long. The planet was occupied, but they had no knowledge of their potential sophistication. They knew though that they could not spare militant power as the current deadlock with the Gordanians continued, to claim the planet. The only option was to spare one recruit in favour of many and infiltrate the population. After that, it would be relatively easy to gauge next steps and additionally unravel them from within, weakening them to Thanagarian control.

The Elders held Sefu Don in the highest esteem, but even Sefu could wear their patience thin. He was demanding of character, passionate always, particularly when he witnessed a recruit with as much potential for the Hark'nvesh as the Thanagarian child from the House of Hol.

"Our command is final Sefu Don, the girl must be trained in Espionage, she is the final hope of Thanagar."

"Elders, please. You must see her potential for the Hark'nvesh! Imagine the battles she will claim for our cause."

"Do you not wish for this war to be won, Sefu?" The voice of the most aged Elder was booming, no frailty to be found here.

Sefu regardless, did not waiver "But Elders, surely there are others for this mission? Surely you understand that her value here is greater than it could ever be a billion lightyears from here."

"Again Sefu Don, our command as your Elders is final. Do not speak of this further, otherwise consider yourself _demoted_."

Sefu ground his teeth, eyes reducing to slits though his mask.

Damn the Elders and their stubbornness. Why could they not see?

He had met the girl at the academy, had witnessed her in the air. To see her fly was to see a true creature of the sky, like one of the great Hark'nvesh birds of the mountains themselves. Her potential was unrivalled, but it seemed she had much in many facets and the Elders had already decided upon her fate. Not helped of course by the death of her parents in the battle of the 5th Moon, Emanksha. They had entered the battle as high general elites but had lost to the brutality and greater planning of the Gordanians, who had camped and secured the dark side in preparation for a surprise assault. The failure of the Hols had brought shame to their house, and had thrown the girl into a future, suddenly uncertain. The Elders wished to kill two birds with one stone, to secure the future use of the new Hyperspace Bypass, whilst also removing a shamed family line from their sight. Thanagarian ways were cold and brutal, Sefu knew this. Lived it every day. Make no mistake, it was not sentiment or sympathy that drove him to save the girl, it was her skill and potential in the sky alone and his ever-selfish desire to train the very best.

Sefu spoke with the girl from the House of Hol only once. She had proven to be quick and sharp of mind and tongue, something that surprised him for one of such a young age. But then her parents had been of one of the greatest of the High Houses, to expect less would be foolhardy.

He also learned that she wanted to be one of the Hark'nvesh elites more than anything, to follow in her father's footsteps. Never did she mention her disappointment at being drafted into espionage, but he could see it in her eyes, in the expression she held when she watched the students in the air.

The Elders warned him, they had threatened him further beyond the simple demotion of his rank, to leave the girl be, to let her continue uninfluenced with the destiny they had prescribed her. This, however, was impossible for Sefu. Which is why, at the risk of his own life, he trained her in secret. Again, it were not sympathies that prompted him to take such a risk. What he wanted, _needed_ , was to see the full potential of a true creature of the sky. To selfishly see how she could thrive under his training, how far he could push her, how purely unchallenged she would be by any other in the sky once she had been trained to utter perfection. She would be his final craft.

So, it was that the daughter from the House of Hol, trained in secret under the harsh and merciless eye of Sefu Don. In the dark of night, they would train up in the mountains, the screeching cry of the real Hark'nvesh enough to cover the sound of their brutal training. He was not disappointed to see that she was as quick to learn as she was sharp of tongue, and took every challenge, failure and subsequent punishment in her stride. In time she became hardened, and the influence of her Espionage training brought new and surprising techniques to her Hark'nvesh skillset. Sefu even learned a thing or two himself, though he would utter no word of it in life.

For four cycles of the sun, he trained her. She became his pride and joy, his greatest triumph. However, as with all secrets, it soon was exposed. The girl was told nothing of the discovery, knowing only that one night when she arrived for training, Sefu Don was not there. She returned every night for five moon cycles, but still, he did not return. Knowledge of his disappearance was never shared, for the population of Thanagar, it was as if their greatest Hark'nvesh warrior had never existed. The daughter from the House of Hol grieved his loss. Both for the lessons he gave her, the gift that they were to her life, enabling her to understand the language of the sky and speak with it in the truest of senses. But also, she grieved for the Father figure that she had lost.

Within one sun cycle the Elders placed a date for her mission, and without delay she was sent out into deep space with only herself and her Father's mace for company.

Several years later when the daughter of the House of Hol was now Hawkgirl, she sat in the Watchtower, alone and on monitor duty. On the screen before her a clip was playing, two hawks flying side by side in the sky. She does this often when alone on monitor duty and allows herself the rare indulgence to remember her former mentor Sefu Don, and hope that whatever happened to him, he found his way back to the sky.


End file.
